Re: >H Happy New Year!

Forrest Bishop (forrestb@ix.netcom.com)
Wed, 31 Dec 1997 21:28:08 -0600 (CST)


Anders wrote:
>
>Forrest Bishop <forrestb@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
>> Uh oh. If Anders is overloading, we're all in trouble. :)
>
>Maybe we should think of developing a tool of combatting future or now
>chock? Some way of getting an overall feeling of what is
>happening. History once served that purpose (and still work in many
>areas) but when it comes to the technological changes we need
>something new.

I've played around with a animated planner, and with a 3D chart
that shows interlinks between various technologies. The animation is
particularly interesting, one can show future projections as
semi-transparent objects, with surface properties based for instance
on the degree of likelyhood, importance, field, applications, etc. It
gives a more "gut' feel for progress than a 2D chart.

>Yes, I think this will be the next big thing. The in-your-pocket
>pathogen analyser using mini-PCR and DNA-chips I discussed on another
>thread seems to be feasible, the biomedical researcher I talked with
>tonight didn't see any problem, except that she didn't believe there
>was a market for it :-)

Jeez. I'd pay for one right now.

>What I would like is a molecular film that acts as a cellular
>automaton. Maybe we could use the microtubule units?

What for? How small a unit cell? How many (how few, actually)?
Is there a market for this that cannot be filled with projected
Si 'von Neumann' chips?
What film thickness would you like?
What good is a microtubule? It has to be in water, no?

Any other ideas for thin-film, nearly nanotech products?

Forrest